Chapter 1

1.

Landon Hayes and I swore we would make each other's lives a living hell.

He hated me for scheming to have Misty Rivers marry into the Boston Irish Mob in my place.

I hated him because even though he married me, his heart would always belong to someone else.

For five years, we tortured each other in a marriage that was never real.

But when we were caught in a street shootout overseas, Landon stubbornly shielded me with his own body. He bled out and died on the spot.

"Don't overthink it," he’d whispered. "I just wasn't fast enough."

"Victoria, if there's a next life... stay away from me."

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the afternoon that sealed the fate of our marriage alliance.

I went straight to my father. "Sending an illegitimate daughter is an insult to the Gallagher family. I'll go myself."

Landon, consider my debt to you repaid.

This time, I will marry into the Boston mob, and I will set you free.

…

"You've made up your mind? You really want to take Misty's place and marry into the Irish Mob?"

Harrison Davenport's fingers trembled, dropping cigar ash on his mahogany desk.

It was no surprise he was shocked.

After all, from the day Misty set foot in our home, I never hid my disgust for her. Why would I give up my position as the heir to the Davenport Group to marry into a mob family in her place?

Harrison stared at me, his eyes narrowed. "Didn't you say you wouldn't marry anyone but Landon in this life?"

A sneer formed on my face. "The Gallaghers have connections all over the East Coast. They'll find out Misty is nothing more than a bastard daughter the day she arrives in Boston."

"It's better for me to go personally than to send a replacement and piss them off."

Harrison's expression froze. He shot up from his chair. "When did you find out?"

I lied without flinching. "A couple of days ago."

His face was a mess of emotions. He sighed, walking over to pat my head with a sickeningly fake affection.

"You've grown up. Misty was just an accident, a drunken mistake. I promise, she will never compete with you for anything."

"Your mother would be proud to see you taking responsibility for the family and fulfilling this alliance."

Hypocrite.

I sneered inwardly. It was obvious that Misty, his illegitimate daughter, was the one Harrison truly loved.

In my last life, if I hadn't used the preferred shares with voting rights from my mother's will to pressure him, he would have shipped me off without a second thought.

As I walked out of the study, a light rain began to fall.

Before I could react, a familiar figure appeared before me.

Landon ran up, breathless, his hair and eyebrows misted with cold vapor.

"So? Who's going?"

I was about to pull a tissue from my purse to wipe his face, but his words stopped me cold. "Landon, who do you want to go?"

Landon froze, his handsome face clouding over. "I don't have time for your games! She saved my life. I can't just watch her walk into that. The Irish Mob is no joke, and Declan Gallagher is a notoriously ruthless bastard. Misty is timid and kind. If she marries him, she'll be eaten alive."

I looked him straight in the eye. "Harrison made this deal for the good of the Davenport family. It's his mess. One of us has to go. Who do you choose?"

Landon stared, then laughed, a bitter, mocking sound.

"With you around, Vicki, do Misty and I even have a choice?"

My smile was bleak. I finally understood. Misty was the only one who mattered to him.

My mother and Landon's mother were best friends. Before she died, she entrusted me to Eleanor.

From that day on, Landon swore he would protect me for the rest of his life.

And he did. He was my shadow, from kindergarten onward.

I had a sensitive stomach and a long list of allergies, so Landon learned to bake his grandmother's secret apple pie recipe just for me.

When I missed my mother and couldn't sleep through the night, crippled by depression, Landon stayed in the guest room next to mine for five years straight, always ready to talk me through the darkness.

Then came puberty. When a boy from the football team wrote me a love letter, Landon lost his temper for the first time, his eyes red as he tore every letter to shreds.

"Vicki, isn't having me enough? We're the closest people in the world!"

"I won't let you look at them. You're destined to be my wife."

After that day, Landon never hid his feelings or his possessiveness.

He was with me when I graduated from an Ivy League school. He helped me crush our scheming cousins in the business world, securing my place as the heir to the Davenport Group. And on Thanksgiving, in front of our entire family, he placed the Hayes family's heirloom sapphire engagement ring on my finger, a symbol of their promise. Our engagement was announced that very day.

I used to think that even with a dead mother and a heartless father, as long as Landon was by my side, I had a place to belong.

I never imagined Harrison would alter Misty's age on paper and bring her back from the countryside under the guise of a "business partnership," inserting her into his game of power.

What truly opened my eyes was seeing Landon fall for this beautiful, fragile "damsel in distress." But how much of that was genuine affection, and how much was meticulously manufactured, I now understood better than anyone.

So be it. My gaze turned to ice as I brushed past Landon's shoulder and walked away.

"If you won't choose, then shut the hell up."

I wouldn't tell him that I was the one marrying into the mob. I’d consider it repayment for the last life.

That way, on his wedding day, when he sees his beloved walking down the aisle in a white dress, he'll be pleasantly surprised, won't he?

I pulled at the corner of my mouth.

Landon, this life, we're even.